Batten availability behind SR Timber’s lockdown growth

The North Nottinghamshire-based company, a leading importer of roofing batten, saw sales grow by more than 10% between January and July this year compared with the same period last year.

SR Timber’s Trading Director Shaun Revill said feedback from customers in both the merchant and contracting sectors suggested the company’s stock reserves and delivery speeds were the key reasons for this growth.

“Since Brexit, we’ve adopted a ‘keep calm and carry on’ approach and have concentrated on the things that we can control – and our approach to the pandemic has been no different,” said Mr Revill.

Stock is held at three UK ports, from which SR delivers to customers up and down the country. Recently, SR Timber calculated that at any one time, it is holding enough stock in the UK that – if batten lengths were laid end to end – it would go around the equator 1½ times.

“We have been in the right place at the right time to service our customers and supply them with the quantities of batten they need, when they need them,” he added.

“To be more than 10% up in a seven-month period where the UK was in lockdown for seven weeks is a remarkable achievement and, as I keep saying, a testament to the strength of our supply chain, the quality of our products and our commitment to our customers.”

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, Mr Revill remains very confident and upbeat. “Given what we’ve come through and despite the fact there’s lots of uncertainty ahead, all our forecasting for the rest of the year is still very positive,” Shaun added.

“There’s still a lot of housebuilding going on, and merchants and contractors alike rely on us to provide quality, British Standard-compliant timber roofing batten.”